“The only empowerment South Africa needs is more jobs…” – DA Leader, John Steenhuisen.
In August 2025, the Democratic Alliance launched the party’s six-point plan to turbocharge the economy. This bold, results-driven plan outlines a set of non-negotiable demands for reform which will kickstart our economy and set South Africa on a path to growth and jobs.
With GDP per capita having declined over the past 15 years, and unemployment remaining one of the highest in the world, we cannot afford to delay. Urgent action is needed to unleash our economy and reverse the effects of economic stagnation and declining investor confidence.
At the core of the plan is pressure on the ANC to accept urgent reforms, and a commitment from the DA to do all we can to dismantle three major legislative barriers to growth: the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, the Employment Equity Act, and the Expropriation Act.
While intended to advance transformation, these laws have increasingly served to entrench elite enrichment, deter investment, and block small businesses from accessing opportunities.
The DA proposes an inclusive alternative to the current framework of transformation, one that is based on need rather than race, and which unlocks opportunity for all South Africans, leaving no one behind.
The DA’s plan also calls for:
• Ensuring affordable and reliable energy to power the economy.
• Saving our network industries from collapse.
• Spending for growth.
• From dysfunctional to delivering municipalities.
• Arresting the crime epidemic.
These reforms will create an environment that encourages growth and lifts people out of poverty.
The DA will fight for these reforms in Cabinet, Parliament, and all spheres of government.
Unlike the National Dialogue, which will cost R700 million, the DA’s plan is free. The fact that others are now withdrawing from the National Dialogue shows what it is: an illegitimate talk shop.
South Africans do not need more dialogue. They need real delivery.
The DA will relentlessly use our influence inside the GNU and Parliament to push for these reforms. It is time for urgent action. We must create economic growth and jobs.